Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 14
Nārāyaṇa-tejas: Kṛṣṇa’s Vrata, the Fire-Manifestation, and the Sages’ Inquiry (अनुशासन पर्व, अध्याय १२६)
अकर्ता चैव कर्ता च लभते यस्य यादृशम् | यदि चोर्ध्व॑ यद्यधो वा स्वॉललोकानभियास्यति
akartā caiva kartā ca labhate yasya yādṛśam | yadi cordhvaṁ yadyadho vā svāllokān abhiyāsyati ||
Wika ni Bhīṣma: “Maging hindi kumikilos o kumikilos ang tao, bawat isa’y tumatanggap ng bunga ayon sa tunay na kanya—sa kanyang gawi at likas na pagkatao. Kaya’t tutungo siya sa mga daigdig na nakatakda para sa kanya—mataas man o mababa—ayon sa asal at panloob na kalikasan.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Moral causality is inescapable: regardless of how one frames oneself as a doer or non-doer, one attains outcomes and posthumous destinations (higher or lower realms) consistent with one’s deeds and inner disposition.
In Bhīṣma’s instruction on dharma, he emphasizes the principle of karmic fruition—explaining that beings reach appropriate realms after death based on the quality of their conduct, whether they claim agency or not.